Clouded Crystal

It was a tough week for the experts, who thought they had the Kentucky Derby winner all doped out. When ten of the nation's best three-year-olds paraded to the post in New York's Experimental Free Handicap No. 2, the horseplayers, agreeing with the experts, made Joseph J. Colando's blaze-faced bay colt Uncle Miltie an overwhelming odds-on (7-20) choice to come galloping home with the $18,500 purse.

With Battlefield and Big Stretch unwilling to try again against the horse that had beaten them in a six-furlong conditioner five days before, the Colando colt seemed to be a cinch. But the mile-and-a-sixteenth Experimental was an entirely different matter. Starting in the outside post position, and carrying top weight of 126 Ibs., he never made it a race. Uncle Miltie finished eighth, five lengths (i.e., 4 1/2 & a nose & a head) behind the winner, King Ranch's Sonic, which carried only a feathery 105 Ibs. The time: 1:44 2/5.

Even so, Uncle Miltie might well be a tough horse to beat on Derby Day. At Experimental No. 2)'s distance, 2 1/2 Ibs. is roughly equivalent to a length; on that basis, the experts were still inclined to string along with Uncle Miltie. Next chance to clear the Derby's clouded crystal ball: Jamaica's Wood Memorial this week, when every entry (except maidens and fillies) will carry the same weight (126 Ibs.).

Another Derby candidate, Mrs. Nora Mikell's Repetoire, winner of Experimental Free Handicap No. 1, stayed well up on the list of top three-year-old colts by winning the $23,025 Chesapeake Stakes at Laurel race track. Repetoire, carrying a top-weighted 119 Ibs., ran the mile-and-a-sixteenth in 1:45 1/5.

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